Evil Twin
by MajourOrtho
Summary: Raph meets a girl who places him under her protection from her sister...Karai! Fenru must choose a side: Good? Or Family?
1. Runaway

Silence rings like a bell through the empty barn, darkness has enveloped the whole thing...outside, clouds are beginning to gather. There's no sign of the others. We're playing manhunt. Artie's the target.

I've searched the forest, the rabbit passages, the inside of the main building...did he head across the road? Or is he here somewhere, with a stick, playing the role of a dangerous criminal-right behind me-breathing down my neck, at this _very moment..._

Nope. He's not.

But all of a sudden, the sound of pounding feet draws my attention, and the squeak of robot limbs that haunts my past already, the panicked cries of a teenage boy-

It isn't Artie. He never screams. Dan is not scared of ANYTHING. That's not Ter's yell, or Carl's...It isn't a girl, so it's not Cassandra or Christina.

It can't be...That scream that haunts my dreams, the one that my sister drew from the throat of this boy, this innocent hero...

What can I do?

I stick my head out the door and grab him by the shoulder, yank him into the barn. I know his pursuers, and they're not that fast. They haven't rounded the corner of the building yet, so they didn't see me help him.

I frantically push him into the "prison" we use for Cops and Robbers. "STAY HERE."

* * *

_running...running...If they catch me, I'm dead._

My feet pound in time with my heart, their ominous squeaking sounds pursuing me. I'll never outrun them. They never tire. I don't tire too easily, but I can't last forever...

Suddenly I'm pulled through a doorway, pulled hard and hurled into a small room, falling against metal bars.

"STAY HERE."

Even in the midst of danger, I can't keep my big mouth shut. "What if I don't want to?"

"I think you'll want to..." Says the girl's voice from the darkness. Something falls off my face, and metal twirls in front of me.

Mouth agape, I reach one hand to my side, the other to my eyes. She's taken my mask and weapons! HOW DARE SHE!

She's gone now. Grudgingly, I admit she's right: No way am I leaving here without my weapons and mask! They're part of me, and now _she's _got them...

_Grrrr._

* * *

I stand defiantly before the rows of sharp-angled Kraang droids.

"Give us the location of the one called the turtle" demands one.

"Sorry. Can't tell you that."

I'm willing the rain to come, willing it to fall in buckets in a rare Texas flash-flood, and wipe these dudes out for me.

"The one called the turtle is in this place. Tell us where in this place is the one called the turtle" he demands again.

"No way, bud."

A droplet falls on my arm. Come on rain...give them all you've got...

Suddenly the drops are pounding against me, freezing cold, soaking wet. Yes!

I run through rows of robots, slicing with the borrowed sais, letting rain run into the gears and wires of the droids. It totally fries their systems, rendering their robotic bodied useless.

But then there's the brains to deal with.

The creepy pink things crawl out of the bots' abdomens, squealing. The brains are the lethal things. They teach each other, learning from their mistakes, developing more ideas after each fight if you let them get away. I slash and flip across the rain-soaked ground. Blood spatters on the cuffs of my pants, stains the sais in my hands as rain pelts down in sheets, soaking me to the bone, freezing me through, until finally it's over and I stand breathless in the rain, on the bloodstained, metal-racked ground.

"Nice job."

I know that voice. It fills my past, echoes in my ears with every heartbeat. I haven't seen my sister in ages...last I heard she was still in New York. How is she here, in Texas? And what was she doing hanging out with Kraang?

It can't be her. But then, it can't not be.

"Karai?"


	2. Danny

I stand staring up at the rooftop. Karai leaps down and gives me a big hug.

Yeah, you might call my family "Evil", but we still know what family means.

"What are you doing here, Rai?"

"I followed the Kraang to look for Raphael Hamato."

"The turtle dude in red?"

"Yeah. You seen him?"

"Yeah, he's in the barn."

She looks down at the mask tied to my wrist and the bloodied sais in my hands. I self-consciously wipe them on my jeans.

"Don't tell me you took him out for me already."

"Oh no, uh...I just sort of...borrowed his weapons for a minute..."

"And the mask."

"Yeah. So he wouldn't run away."

"Ok, well thanks for the info...I'll just go and kill him now." A small smile plays across her face as she heads for the barn door.

No way! I've risked too much for this dude now to just let him get killed like this.

"Sorry, Rai", I say, stepping in front of her, "But he's kind of under my protection now."

She stops, hesitating. "You know Fenru, you could be making this job a lot easier for me..."

"I know, Karai", I sigh, "But...you know how it is. I've risked too much on him to let you kill him now."

Finally she makes up her mind. "All right, Roo. I don't want to fight with you. I'll hang around, wait for you to be careless, and get him then...nab him next time..."

"Thanks, 'Rai."

She smiles one last time, and disappears into the forest. It's been like this for awhile...when the enemy is the ones you love most, sometimes you just have to coordinate.

* * *

I agitatedly pace the dark barn floor. The smell of animals follows me wherever I go. I berate myself for letting her get the best of me so easily. Even though it was dark, I mean, come on, I'm supposed to be a ninja here!

Then the door bursts open. She stands there in the open doorway, the dim outside light illuminating her silhouette momentarily before she shuts the door. Then, after a moment, she flicks on the lights. The look on her face...She's positively OUTRAGED.

"You owe me. BIG TIME!" She says, barely managing to keep a hold on her temper. Her clothes are ripped in places, blood stains them, and she's soaked through. My sais are still clenched in her fists, my mask hanging limply from her wrist.

"I never asked for your help."

"Yeah, well, if I hadn't saved you out there, Karai would be handing your empty shell to Shredder at this very moment! You got lucky this time."

"Wait.. you know Karai? Why was she with the Kraang?"

"She's my sister, and she was following them. TO GET TO YOU. She probably followed you all the way from New York."

"Your sister? Why did she wait until now?"

"Yes, my SISTER. And she was toying with you."

Then a side door opens. I move back into the shadows as a boy comes in. He's tall, maybe 17 or 18 years old. Rain beads on his copper skin, and jet-black hair is plastered to his forehead. "Fenru? Are you in here?"

"I'm right here, Danny-boy."

"Oh there you are. Artie was hiding in the main building, behind some mops in the cleaning closet. He jumped out and killed me..."

Fenru laughs. "While you were chasing Art, I found a turtle..."

"Aw, really? Probly the little guy came out to feel the rain. Where is he?"

"Oh, I wouldn't call him a little guy...Come on out, Raphael."

Not a little apprehensive, I come out of the shadows.

"Whoa. Definitely not a little guy. Who dressed him up? Did you do that? Why'd you name him Raphael?"

"She didn't."

I smile as Danny jumps. "Wow! It talks!"

"Yeah, it does", says Fenru with a grin.

"It's like...a mutant or something..."

"I'm right here you know", I say. This is getting annoying.

"Is it intelligent? Or is it just parroting us?"

"He's intelligent," Fenru answers, "And parrots are, too. They understand a great deal of the human language you know...Anyway. Raphael, this is Dan, Dan, Raphael!"

"Nice to meet you", I say in a voice that says "It's not at all nice to meet you."

"Hi there!" Danny's more enthusiastic than I am though. "I've never met a talking turtle before!"


	3. The Plan

I glare at the soaking wet boy murderously. I don't share his enthusiasm. All I want to do is get my stuff and get out of here. But obviously, that's not going to happen anytime soon.

"I'll go get us something to eat", offers the girl. "Be right back."

The boy sits cross-legged on the concrete barn floor. Reluctantly I seat myself across from him. AFter a moment's awkward silence, he evidently feels the need to start a conversation.

"So! You like pokemons?"

"No."

"Oh...baseball?"

"No."

"Uh...ok, how 'bout uh...tag? You like to play tag?"

"Not with you."

"Yeah, of course not, uh...fishing?"

"I hate fish."

"Uh...well WHAT DO YOU LIKE?"

"Pounding people into the ground. Allow me to demonstrate."

I stand and glare at him. He stands too. "Look, just cause you got pushed around by Fenru, is no reason to be in a rotten mood! She can control anyone, find their weak spot after a moment's study. It's perfectly normal."

"Yeah well, I guess I just hate the normal around here!"

"Dude, all I wanted to do, was get a little conversation going! You need to take a chill pill, man!"

"I'm perfectly calm!"

"You just tried to bite my head off, just now!"

"Why would I want YOUR head, of all the other perfectly good heads in the world?"

"Well, you're just...a jerk!"

"SHUT UP, KNUCKLEHEADS, OR YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE FAR FAR AWAY!"

Fenru stands in the doorway, sais clutched in one hand, a plate of cookies in the other.

"Sit down."

Danny immediately obeys, but I cross my arms defiantly and glare at Fenru.

"What if I don't want to?"

Setting down the plate of cookies, she twirls my weapons casually. "I think you probably want to. Unless you want to see what it's like to be a Kraang droid..."

I sit down, but not without an attitude.

* * *

I leave those boys alone for one minute, and they go at each other's throats.

With a sigh, I sit down on the concrete floor beside the plate of cookies. "We need to talk about your current situation", I say with a nod in Raphael's direction.

"What's there to talk about? Just give me back my stuff and I'll leave."

"Excuse me, but I have to say...NOT ON YOUR LIFE. Cause if I let you out of here, you won't have a life for it to be not on. Karai's out for blood, and I'd bet my shoe that she's outside this building right now, waiting for you to walk out."

Raphael tries to hide a shudder, but I notice it anyway. "So how do I get out of here alive? I'm not living in a barn for the rest of my life."

"There is a solution..." I pause for effect. "I've placed you under my protection. As long as I stand between her and you, she won't harm you. Because then she'd have to get through me, and I'm her sister. She'd never harm me."

"That's right. You're her sister! Why should I trust you?"

"I'm not like her. My family's not bad, Father just holds a grudge! This is nothing but a big family feud. Rai's caught in the middle of it because of her loyalty to Father. But his pressure doesn't work on me. I can get you back to New York where you'll reunite with your brothers and have solitude in numbers. Plus, with the blue-masked guy around-"

"Leo."

"Don't interrupt, sandwich-brain!" Haha. That was kind of funny. "LEO. She doesn't want to hurt him, and she's less likely to hurt you with him around."

"So the plan is...?"

"I'm escorting you back to New York.


	4. Objection

Her words ring in my ears. She's going to ESCORT me to NEW YORK? The daughter of our arch-enemy. Escorting ME-me, possibly the toughest guy in New York.

"No. No WAY", I say.

"Oh, okay. I guess I'll just go get Karai and tell her she can come OBLITERATE YOU NOW", suggests Fenru.

"No, no, don't do that!-Can't you just get my brothers to come down here and get me?"

"Oh, now, no need for all that. I need to visit my dad anyhow."

"I am NOT. Letting a GIRL. ESCORT ME HOME", I rage.

"You don't have to let me. I never asked for your outlook on the situation. WE are going back to New York, I am escorting you, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!"

"How about this: I'll escort YOU home!"

"Or we'll compromise, and you'll both stay with me", Danny suggests.

"Dannyyyy," groans Fenru.

"Okay, okay. Just kidding."

I...man. I have no words. This is just...embarrassing.

"But what will my brothers think?"

"Have you SEEN the way she controls people? She'll talk them out of your wimpiness in a heartbeat!" Danny crows.

"What wimpiness, punk?" I growl, getting in his face.

"ENOUGH! Eat a snack, get refreshed, WE LEAVE IN AN HOUR." Fenru's words stun us both to silence.

I want to argue, but remembering the fate of all those bots out there, I keep my mouth shut.

* * *

Boys. Wait five minutes, and they're at it again. Sometimes you just gotta take charge.

I walk into the main building and head to the bathroom. I pause for a look in the full-length mirror that graces the pristine white wall. I'm still soaking wet.

With a quick glance around to make sure nobody's watching, I take off my ever-present Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and stretch my wings.

Long, white-and-gold, feathered beauties. The rain soaked right through my sweatshirt, but they're still beautiful, if a little bedraggled.

I flap them in a quick burst experimentally, then, reassured by the cold air that batters me from their flap, I beat them in long, wide strokes, not the right type to get me off the ground. But after a few more beats, I'm dried by the winds they create.

I retrieve my backpack from the corner of the bathroom and head back to the barn.

* * *

I watch as Fenru says goodbye to Artie, Danny, Terence, and all of her other friends, and I'm surprised by a pang of longing for my own family.

"I'll miss you, but maybe I'll see you all again someday."

Curiously, she's completely dry now. Maybe there was a blow dryer in the bathroom or something.

I can finally see what she looks like when she's not wet: Dark blue jeans, now ripped and bloodstained. Mickey Mouse sweatshirt. Short brown hair with dark green highlights through it. Fingerless black gloves that go to her wrists. Purple eyes...weird. And a huge white feather sticking out of her black sneaker.

As I watch, she slings a blue backpack over her shoulder and ties a black mask around her head...

A mask like mine. My mask that's still tied around her wrist.

Why does she have a mask like that? That's weird. Just a coincidence? Nah. I think there's something more behind it.

Or maybe I'm just too suspicious, because of her background. Sensei says I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But she's not a book. And it's not her cover, it's the story inside. Right?

Not that that applies to me. With comic books, you can usually tell by their cover. And that's the only kind of books I read. Unless the cover's ripped off. And then the beginning's ruined. Or if you open it on the wrong side, and then the ending's ruined.

Man, I'd like to make her ending right now.

Or maybe what Sensei meant was that you should judge people by their true disposition and loyalty instead of where they come from and what they look like?

Nah.


	5. Trouble in Indiana

We stand at a bus stop. I didn't know they had bus stops in Texas, but ok.

Wait a second. How do we get all the way to New York in a bus?

"How far will this bus take us? Don't you think New York is a rather far way to drive?"

"Probably halfway to the Texas border, at the most. We'll go as far as it will take us."

"Don't you think it would be smarter to take a train? Are there subways in Texas?"

"No. I guess that's kind of a New York thing. And we're taking the bus. It's cheaper."

"Cheapskate."

"Okay, you pay for it then!"

"Uhhh..." She has me there. I haven't got any money.

"Wait, how did you get all the way to Texas with no money?"

"I...walked?"

"Are you serious? How long did that take?"

"For EVER."

"Okay then, be thankful that you have a bus to take this time."

I wonder if she wasn't just leading up to all that to trap me.

The bus pulls in to the bus stop, and we climb in, along with 2 old ladies, 3 toddlers and their mom, and 2 teenagers. I choose a seat in the back, trying to ignore the stares that the people give me, countered by haughty glares from Fenru. None of them can stare her down for more than 3 seconds, and I bet if anyone tried, she would shoot lasers out of her eyes. She sure knows how to be angry. I wonder if she's like, goth or something.

After an hour in the bus, which smells like sweat and stale cheetos, cooped up with 3 bratty toddlers and a moody girl, I begin to get cabin fever-ahem, bus fever-and also to get hungry. We stop in San Antonio. The bus didn't take us as far as she predicted, but still, San Antonio is a long way to drive in a bus. I should know because I was there.

"Don't you have, like, delicious steak in Texas or something?"

"Yep."

"Can we get some?"

"Are you kidding me? This may be cattle country, but steak is NOT cheap!"

We argue in the crowded Sam's grocery over whether to get pizza from the cafe or just grab a lunchable. I end up getting stuck with energy bars, of all things. Not a good supper. I was stuck in a bus for 7 hours, after not even eating anything for at least 6, and this girl gives me an ENERGY BAR?

I know, I know, I'm supposed to be a ninja, extreme endurance, and all that. But even ninjas get hungry sometimes. Especially TEENAGE ninjas.

The next bus doesn't take us as far. We take buses all the way through Oklahoma until finally we stop in a small town in Missouri. I groan at the cramp of riding buses for nearly 48 hours straight. 12 hours to get to Oklahoma. 14 to get through it. Another 12 getting near the middle of Missouri-the last bus had engine problems. And only lousy energy bars and a small sandwich to get me through almost 2 days. Not a good diet for a growing turtle.

But in Indiana, we run into trouble. We've been traveling for a week now, yes, all through the night too, without much sleep because of bumpy roads. Kraang droids. They've followed us.

And Karai is on their tail.

I don't know how they got here from Texas, where Fenru killed them all...there must have been some extras in the little forest near the barn. But here they are.

"We've gotta get to the bus stop! Hurry, Fenru!"

"No way, we are NOT putting innocent people's lives in danger! YOU of all people should know that, Raphael!"

"Wow, for the DAUGHTER OF AN EVIL MASTERMIND, you sure know a lot about chivalry!"

"SHUT UP! They'll follow the bus! There are gonna be children on that bus, CHILDREN, RAPH! AND THEY HAVE NO QUALMS AT SHOOTING THEM ALL! INNOCENT CHILDREN WHO WILL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO GROW UP!"

"Okay, okay! Whatever qualms means...give me my sais!"

She throws them at me and pulls a folded metal bar out of her backpack, which she's thrown on the ground, a bar about a foot long in folded state. She unfolds it into a hawkeye-looking crossbow and pulls 6 arrows out of her backpack.

"Six arrows? SIX!?"

She shoots one into the midst of the kraang.

"YOU MISSED-"

It blows up promptly.

I stand in awe as metal parts go flying. The shot took out nearly half the droids.

"SHUT UP ABOUT STUFF YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT AND YOU MIGHT BE BETTER OFF!" She yells as another arrow takes out all but six of them. These she takes out with a katana she pulls out of her seemingly bottomless backpack.

"Wow. That was impressive", comes an admiring and chillingly familiar voice from behind us. I spin around, eyes wide, okay, I admit it. Karai scares me to death.

She pulls out her sword and rushes me, but before I have a chance to react, she's stopped by Fenru's sword, and the sound of metal against metal rings down the otherwise silent Indiana sidewalk.

"DON'T. YOU. DARE", Fenru growls. "You've done enough, Karai."

"Easy, sis. Why are you protecting this loser?"

"WHOM ARE YOU CALLING LOSER?"

"Well, not me. And not your guardian here."

"So...that fire hydrant over there?"

"LEAVE, Karai!"

"Okay, okay. But this isn't over, sis. You're gonna have your honor scarred, just like with Jason."

Karai turns and disappears into the city.


End file.
